We all feel pain from time to time, when we bruise a shin or get a cramp. But an estimated 7.8 million people in the UK feel pain most or all of the time.

While acute or short-term pain is actually useful, even vital, to our health as a warning signal, persistent or chronic pain – such as back pain and arthritis – serves little purpose and can leave people debilitated and depressed.

For sufferers strong painkillers can seem the only way to cope, but drug-free treatments, such as acupuncture and hypnotherapy, can also alleviate pain.

ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW

Pain is never 'just in the mind' or 'just in the body'. Rather, it's a complicated mixture of signals from the body and how the brain interprets them.

The brain plays a big part in how pain in the body is processed and interpreted and the emotional centres in the brain are directly involved.

Researchers at the University of Oxford found that if you're feeling depressed or anxious, you're likely to perceive more pain than when you're feeling positive and happy.

MOST POPULAR

It means that learning strategies to reduce stress and develop a positive mental attitude can help you better cope with your pain.

So, what can you do?

Meditation – living 'mindfully'

How can it help?

Practising meditation has been shown to alter peoples' perceptions of pain and lessen its emotional impact.

A practice called mindfulness meditation is particularly effective with chronic pain. 'Mindfulness meditation is not just about sitting and meditating once a day, but developing an awareness of how to live more in the here and now,' says mindfulness meditation teacher, Shamash Alidina, author of 'Mindfulness for Dummies'.

'People with chronic pain can often fixate on the fear of having pain in the future, and this adds negative thoughts and emotions, such as anger and resentment, that go along with the physical sensation of pain and make it worse.'

What do I do?

The key is to find a way to focus on the present, which is done by simply sitting and observing your breathing. The mind will wander many times, but each time you gently bring the mind back to focus again on your breathing.

Simply sitting with physical pain, and acknowledging it without fear or judgement can help lessen the suffering we attach to it.

The evidence

Scientists at the University of Manchester recently found that people who meditate regularly are less likely to anticipate pain, and when they do experience it, they find it less unpleasant.

'Meditation trains the brain to be more present-focused, and therefore to spend less time anticipating future negative events,' says Dr Christopher Brown, who conducted the research.

And even a short course in meditation can make a difference. A study by psychologists at the University of North Carolina last year showed that as little as one hour of meditation training spread over three days can be effective in increasing peoples' capacity to manage pain.

After three 20-minute sessions, individuals recorded feeling less pain from harmless electric shocks than those tested who hadn't completed any meditation training.

ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW

Their reduced sensitivity to pain continued even when they weren't meditating.

Acupuncture – frees the 'Qi'

How can it help?

In traditional Chinese medicine, pain and illness are considered signs that the body is out of balance.

'Qi', the Chinese word for the energy that flows freely through the body, can sometimes get blocked, causing pain and other symptoms. Acupuncture – inserting ultra-fine needles into highly specific points in the skin – is a way of restoring the body's natural equilibrium, the needles inserted to 'unblock' the energy lines.

'In Western medicine, the effectiveness of acupuncture is explained by the way it stimulates the nervous system to release chemical messenger molecules that promote healing,' says Laura Merie, an acupuncturist and traditional herbalist in London.

'In the UK, acupuncture is now a recommended treatment for lower back pain under NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) guidelines.'

What do I do?

Although every case is different, a general rule of thumb is six treatments before problems are resolved: 'Nearly all clients have a positive outcome of some kind after the first treatment,' says Laura Merie.

'Even if it is just a deep sense of relaxation that helps them to have a good night's sleep – for people with chronic pain, sleep is vital to help the muscles in the painful area to relax and restore a person's mental capacity to cope,' she says

The evidence

A recent experiment by American researchers on mice found that levels of a natural painkiller called adenosine increased 24-fold in the tissues around the needle points after they were given acupuncture.

Adenosine helps regulate sleep and reduce inflammation.

Brain imaging studies have shown that acupuncture appears to increase the availability of receptors in the brain responsible for dampening pain signals.

Hypnotherapy – no pain without the brain

How can it help?

Hypnotherapists are able to lead individuals into a deep trance-like state where they are more amenable to suggestions that can alter old habits and behaviours.

For people with chronic pain, it can provide a deeper understanding of the brain's role in processing pain signals and teach techniques to self-manage their pain.

'The saying, ''There's no pain until it reaches the brain'', underlines the psychological aspect of pain,' says Peter Field, a hypnotherapist experienced in chronic pain management.

'With chronic pain, there's always fear coming from the memory of pain and the expectation of more pain in the future,' he says.

What do I do?

'In a first session, I often guide people into a hypnotic state and then, using the power of suggestion, explain that their hand is anaesthetised. When I clamp a bull-dog clip onto their hand, they believe it's numb and so don't feel any pain. Afterwards, they have an understanding that for pain to be ''felt'', it needs the mind,' adds Peter Field.

Hypnotherapy can give people with chronic pain useful techniques to cope with pain. 'On a scale of 0 to 10, I ask a person to assess the level of pain they're experiencing. Under hypnosis, we can then 'ratchet up' the level of pain before bringing it down, to show that, in the right state of mind, you can have some control over the level of pain you perceive.'

According to Field, three to five sessions of hypnotherapy can be enough for individuals to experience significant reductions from chronic pain and to learn the techniques of self-hypnosis.

The evidence

NICE has approved meditation for treating patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and in the US studies have shown that hypnotherapy can help with pain, anxiety, and sickness surrounding breast cancer surgery.

In Belgium, at the Pain Clinic, Liege University Hospital, surgeons are using hypnosis combined with light local anesthetics for certain surgical procedures.

The materials in this web site are in no way intended to replace the professional medical care, advice, diagnosis or treatment of a doctor. The web site does not have answers to all problems. Answers to specific problems may not apply to everyone. If you notice medical symptoms or feel ill, you should consult your doctor - for further information see our Terms and conditions.

Getting healthy just got a whole lot easier

Don't miss out on the latest healthy living news and inspiration direct to your inbox.

Enter your email address:

this is a test error

We will also let you know about discounts and great offers from us, tick this box if you'd rather not know about these.
Hearst Partners would like to let you know about some of their fantastic discounts, special offers, and promotions. We promise you wont be bombarded. Tick here if you would like to receive these.